St. David & Fairbank, AZ (2/2/2019)

I wrote about the Mormon Battalion a year ago ( Yuma, AZ) and the part it played in settling the old West.  The battalion came through Arizona in 1846 and some of the members apparently liked the area because they returned many years later (1877) and settled in what they called St. David, named for an elder in their church's history.  Those Mormons harvested timber from the Huachuca Mountains and helped build the towns of Huachuca City and Tombstone (you've heard of it?)  St. David never really took off and today has only about 1500 people.  Frankly, it has a hardscrabble feel and look, without much to attract visitors.  There are a couple exceptions.

From a trip through here some twenty years ago, I recalled a monastery known as Holy Trinity and wanted to visit the grounds while I am reasonably close.  I was told the Benedictine monks who founded the monastery are no longer there, but the grounds are maintained and Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel still holds mass.  A number of peacocks stroll the grounds, occasionally startling visitors with their raucous shrieks.

This one is displaying for the benefit of two peahens strolling nearby.  They passed by without showing any interest.  Timing is everything.

The chapel is adobe style, while the interior is somewhat eclectic, from a handmade rustic altar to oriental furnishings.

The grounds contain several impressive crosses, a meditation garden with pond and waterfall, a small cemetery, and a trail for Stations of the Cross.

They also have a book store/gift shop, several buildings that might have been dormitories for the monks, and of all things an RV park.  Back at the LRJ, one of the peacocks had chosen the spare tire for a lofty perch.

The other place worth seeing in St. David is the Gallery of Dreams, a surprisingly good fine arts gallery for such a remote place.  The owner is a sculptor who has created numerous bronzes, many representing western icons such as Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson.  I liked the statue of the golfer in the parking area.

Heading back to my RV park, I stopped off to visit the ghost town known as Fairbank.  This town was founded in 1882 during the Tombstone silver boom.  It served as Tombstone's railroad depot for more than twenty years.  Every shipment to or from Tombstone passed through Fairbank.  Most of the buildings are gone now, but a few remain for visitors to see.  The most impressive are the schoolhouse and the post office.

Others are shabby structures made of wood that has weathered a lot over the past hundred years.  Notice the "two-holer" privy pretty much right out in the open, and a metal water tank off in a field by itself.  I'd do it the other way around.

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